System and method for  analytics with automated whisper mode

ABSTRACT

A service session is facilitated via a packet switched network; in the service session, user equipment participates in an interactive communication exchange with an agent via a first interaction mode, and the interactive communication exchange is based on a user inquiry. The interactive communication exchange is monitored and a determination is made that a consultation service would facilitate resolution of the user inquiry. A service resource is associated with the service session responsive to determining that the consultation service would facilitate the resolution; the service resource provides consultation to the agent via a second interaction mode without exposing the consultation to the user equipment. The consultation elevates an experience level employed in the first service session towards resolution of the user inquiry.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/860,066, filed Jan. 2, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/201,271, filed Jul. 1, 2016 (now U.S. Pat. No.9,876,909), which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The subject disclosure relates to system and method for analytics withautomated whisper mode.

BACKGROUND

Consumers may require assistance from time to time with products and/orservices. Some consumers who have problems using a product or servicemay be in need of technical information or require technical support.Others may require assistance with a return merchandise authorization, abilling inquiry, a service change, and the like. Producers, merchantsand/or service providers often recognize the importance of responding tosuch inquiries in a timely and effective manner. To that end, manyprovide a substantial investment that can include one or more of liveagents, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and/or web-basedself-help resources to address customer inquiries in a timely andeffective manner.

A call response process generally acquires information from a customeron a voice call, e.g., using a voice call center model. Such voice callcenters generally utilize dedicated telephony equipment that routescalls to a proper team and transfers customer information from atelephone call distribution system to an agent. An IVR system can beutilized to prompt a caller and detect caller responses according toDTMF responses from key entries on user devices and/or voice responses.The IVR systems allow a call to be routed correctly in response orsaying a correct keyword or keywords from a predetermined list.

While some call centers use circuit switched connectivity to provide avoice session between customers and agents, others use IP connectivityto carry voice packet streams over a UDP channel, e.g., using astandardized protocol such as RTP. These so-called IP call centers useIP technology with a dedicated packet voice channel that essentiallyemulates a circuit switched call.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a customer contact system;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a contact center of thecustomer care service system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative embodiment of communication exchangesbased on the customer care service system of FIG. 1 and/or the contactcenter of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example customer careservice system of FIG. 1 and/or contact center of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative embodiment of another example customercare service system of FIG. 1 and/or contact center of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process used bythe systems of FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process used bythe systems of FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process used bythe systems of of FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process used bythe systems of FIGS. 1-4;

FIGS. 10-11 depict illustrative embodiments of communication systemsthat provide media services associated with customer care servicesaccording to FIGS. 1-9;

FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a web portal forinteracting with one or more of the contact service systems of FIGS. 1-5and/or the communication systems of FIGS. 10-11;

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication device forinteracting with one or more of the contact service systems of FIGS. 1-5and/or the communication systems of FIGS. 10-11; and

FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, maycause the machine to perform any one or more of the methods describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject disclosure describes, among other things, illustrativeembodiments of an omni-channel, e.g., chat, voice, web, video, onlinecontact capability that manages customer contacts through an expertsystem. An automated virtual agent can interact in real-time with acustomer, intelligently route requests, as needed to a human agent anditeratively learns from real-time interactions between the customer andthe human agent in order to facilitate future contacts either with thissame customer or other customers who have similar requests. The systemhas the ability to rapidly automate manual processes based upon ongoinginteractions. Other embodiments are described in the subject disclosure.

This application is related to the following commonly-owned U.S. patentapplications each filed on even date herewith and each incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety: Attorney Docket Number2015-0902_7785-1262 entitled “Omni Channel Customer Care System AndMethod”; Attorney Docket Number 2015-0902A_7785-1263 entitled “Systemand Method for Transition Between Customer Care Resource Modes,” andAttorney Docket Number 2015-0902B_7785-1264 entitled “Customer CareDatabase Creation System and Method.”

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include a process thatincludes facilitating, by a system comprising a processing systemincluding a processor, a first interactive customer service session viaan internet protocol network, wherein customer equipment participates ina first interactive communication exchange with a first customer serviceagent via a first interaction mode of a plurality of interaction modes.The first interactive communication exchange is based on a customerinquiry. The first interactive communication exchange is monitored, anda determination is made that a consultation service would facilitateresolution of the customer inquiry based on the monitoring. A customercare service resource is associated with the first interactive customersession responsive to the determining that the consultation servicewould facilitate a resolution of the customer inquiry, wherein thecustomer care service provides the consultation service to the customerservice agent via a second interaction mode of the plurality ofinteraction modes, without exposing the consultation service to thecustomer equipment, and wherein the consultation service elevates anexperience level employed in the first interactive customer servicesession towards the resolution of the customer inquiry.

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include a system includinga processing system having a processor and a memory that storesexecutable instructions. The executable instructions, when executed bythe processing system, facilitate performance of operations that includefacilitating a first service session via a packet switched network,wherein user equipment participates in a first interactive communicationexchange with a first agent via a first interaction mode of a pluralityof interaction modes. The first interactive communication exchange isbased on a user inquiry. The first interactive communication exchange ismonitored and a determination is made that a consultation service wouldfacilitate resolution of the user inquiry based on the monitoring of thefirst interactive communication exchange. A service resource isassociated with the first service session responsive to the determiningthat the consultation service would facilitate a resolution of the userinquiry, wherein the service resource provides the consultation serviceto the first agent via a second interaction mode of the plurality ofinteraction modes, without exposing the consultation service to the userequipment, and wherein the consultation service elevates an experiencelevel employed in the first service session towards the resolution ofthe user inquiry.

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include a machine-readablestorage medium, including executable instructions that, when executed bya processing system including a processor, facilitate performance ofoperations. The operations include facilitating a first service sessionvia a packet switched network, wherein user equipment participates in afirst interactive communication exchange with a first agent via a firstinteraction mode, wherein the first interactive communication exchangeis based on a user inquiry. The first interactive communication exchangeis monitored and a determination is made that a consultation servicewould facilitate resolution of the user inquiry. A service resource isassociated with the first service session responsive to the determiningthat the consultation service would facilitate a resolution of the userinquiry, wherein the service resource provides the consultation serviceto the first agent via a second interaction mode of the plurality ofinteraction modes, without exposing the consultation service to the userequipment, and wherein the consultation service elevates an experiencelevel employed in the first service session towards the resolution ofthe user inquiry.

Companies are trying to transform manual processes, in which acompany-employed agent must act on behalf of a customer, into automatedprocesses, in which customers are able to act on their own usingself-service via a website. Such sites are often difficult for customersto navigate and confusing for many users. When customers are unable tocomplete self-service tasks successfully they become dissatisfied andmay switch providers. Customers who have problems using a product orservice may need a way to get technical information or may requiretechnical support, return merchandise authorizations or other help,normally requiring an agent. In these scenarios web solutions andautomated assistants only get in the way delaying resolution of thepending issue and often alienating customers.

Customers with complex billing issues may need questions answered.Often, it is impossible to make human agents available quickly to thesecustomers, especially during the busiest times of day or during a busyseason. Training sufficient agents and staffing call centers to thelevel necessary to deal with all possible issues is very costly andsometimes impossible because of unpredictable spikes in traffic. Theresult is that business is lost because customers don't understand howto use a product or cannot get prompt service.

Voice call centers are very expensive to maintain both because of thehigh cost of agents and because of the extensive amount of telephonyequipment required to route calls to the proper team and to transfercustomer information from a telephone call distribution system to theagent when a customer call comes in. Even with adequate systems andadequate agents, the process of acquiring information from a customer ona voice call is awkward and error prone as it depends upon an IVR(Interactive Voice Response) system to prompt the user and depends onthe user pressing the right DTMF (Dual Tone Multiple Frequency) buttonsin response or saying the correct keywords to route the call correctly.

Trying to recast this traditional customer care interaction to anautomated system would be beneficial from a cost perspective but israrely successful because of the complexity of anticipating all possiblequestions and issues and preparing adequate responses to each.Intelligent virtual agents (expert systems) are also difficult toprogram with the correct rules because customer problems are oftentransitory or localized and it is difficult to anticipate the questionsfor which responses are needed. Laborious programming and extensivetesting generally required for custom software makes it impractical tobuild adaptable, responsive and useful automation.

The techniques disclosed herein utilize a web-based media routing systemto connect a customer to an expert system. Web-based media routingsystems, such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Real TimeCommunications (Web RTC), support an interactive, multimedia session,e.g., using a web browser, so that the customer interface can be highlycustomized to the needs of the business or application. When a customerinitiates a contact they can be admitted to a virtual multimedia “room”that allows them to speak and/or chat message with the expert system.

The expert system is configured to analyze the customer's inquiry orquestion in order to identify a resolution. In some embodiments, thesystem analyzes the customer's inquiry using natural language processingand/or speech recognition. The resolution can include a list of topicsthat correlate to the customer's question or problem.

In at least some embodiments, the expert system searches a knowledgebase using the list of topics as keywords to find rules that relate tothe customer's message and/or utterance. The rules can be used toformulate a response to the customer's inquiry. If there is a suitableresponse in the knowledge base, the expert system can send the responseto equipment of the user as a text document, a hypertext link, a voicemessage, a video or any combination thereof. If there is no suitableresponse in the knowledge base, the expert system can invite anothercustomer service resource, such as a human agent, to join thecommunication exchange or otherwise enter the virtual multimedia room.Depending upon the desired behavior, the agent can by one or more ofvarious contact modes including, without limitation, chat-messaging withthe customer, speaking with the customer, video chatting with thecustomer or any combination thereof.

In at least some embodiments, when a live agent is interacting with thecustomer, the expert system records the session in an archive, e.g.,identifying keywords that occur within the interactive session with theagent and associating these keywords with the recorded session. At anend of the interaction, the customer satisfaction with the session israted and, if the session is deemed satisfactory, the recorded sessioncan be “cleansed,” e.g., using a manual and/or automatic anonymizationprocess. Alternatively or in addition, the recorded session, e.g., thecleansed recorded session, can be edited for relevance. The session isthen added to a knowledge base to be used in an automatic response forfuture sessions using at least some of the associated keywords as ameans of rating the topics of recorded sessions.

A feedback process can be established, e.g., through the recordingsand/or the customer rating, that allows each successful manualinteraction to be converted to a contribution to the knowledge base. Afuture caller can be presented by the expert system with a previouslyrecorded session based upon, for instance, a similarity of keywords,e.g., an edited and/or cleansed version. If the caller is unsatisfiedwith the response, they can be passed to a live agent and the processcan be repeated. Over time, each session can be replaced with moresatisfactory results. In this way, a knowledge base of satisfactoryinteractions is developed, and continuously improved.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a customer service orcontact system 100. A user or customer 102 using customer equipment 104accesses a customer service system 106 by way of a data networkconnection 108. The customer equipment 104 can include, withoutlimitation, a workstation, a mobile device, e.g., a smart phone, atablet or a laptop, and/or another device such as a media processor orset-top box, an Internet Protocol (IP) or smart TV. The customer servicesystem 106 facilitates access to an interactive customer service session110 by the customer equipment 104.

The customer service session 110 facilitates an exchange of informationbetween the customer 102 and a customer service provider. In more detailthe exchange of information can be between the customer 102 and one ormore of an expert system of the customer service system 106, e.g., anintelligent software agent or “bot,” and a live, human agent 112.

The customer service session 110 can support a presentation of customerservice information 114, such as a form, a template, a frame, and/or amenu. Alternatively or in addition, the customer service session 110 canfacilitate a presentation of a chat window 116 and/or a graphic window,such as an image or video window 118. For example, the image or videowindow 118 can include a screen shot of at least a portion of the user'sscreen 120 and/or a screen shot of at least a portion of the live, humanagent's screen 122. It is generally understood that the live, humanagent 112 accesses the customer service session 110 through agentequipment, e.g., a work station, a mobile device, such as a tablet, alaptop and/or a smart phone.

In at least some embodiments, the customer service session 110 exchangesone or more of audio or video from one or more of the user equipment104, e.g., acquired by the user's camera and/or microphone 124, or thelive, human agent's equipment, e.g., by the agent's camera and/ormicrophone 126.

The system 100 can include a knowledge database 128. The knowledgedatabase 128 can maintain records related issues, inquiries andresolutions. For example, the knowledge database can include apredetermined list of likely issues and/or inquiries accompanied bycorresponding resolutions and/or answers. It is understood that theknowledge database 128 can be updated or otherwise modified from time totime, e.g., as new issues are encountered and resolved. In someembodiments, the knowledge database 128 is updated in real time or innear real time, e.g., in response to resolution of an issue during acustomer service session 110.

By way of illustrative example, a customer 102 accesses a customer caresession 110 to seek resolution of an issue, e.g., an equipment-relatedissue, a service-related issue, a billing-related issue, and the like.The expert system 106 determines the customer issue and accesses theknowledge database 128 to identify a predetermined resolution. To theextent the predetermined resolution is identified to the particularcustomer issue, the expert system, e.g., using an automated agent orbot, provides the predetermined resolution to the customer 102 using thecustomer service session. However, to the extent that a predeterminedresolution is not available or identifiable in the knowledge database128, the automated agent can engage a live, human agent 112. Engagementcan include joining the live agent to the existing session with theautomated agent, or in place of the automated agent as in a handover.

The live, human agent 112 alone or in combination with still othercustomer service resources, e.g., a supervisor agent or subject matterexpert, works with the customer 102 to resolve the customer's particularissue. Unlike other expert systems, those sessions engaging a live,human agent 112 to address new issues can be used to update theknowledge database 128. For example, the human sessions can be recordedand/or analyzed or processed to determine a corresponding template. Thetemplate can include standard information, such as equipment type,service type, equipment location, equipment network location, software,e.g., app and/or OS (operating system) versions and the like.Alternatively or in addition, the templates can include one or more ofan issue category, a resolution, and/or list of alternative resolutions,and/or a list of likely resolutions. The resolutions can includestatements, scripted question/answers, software, and the like. Thetemplates can be used to address future questions in a rapid feedbackloop. For example, the templates can be added to the knowledge databaseto allow future questions of the same or similar nature to be addressedby the automated bot, without having to engage a live, human agent.

As a web solution, existing customer authentication methods can provideknowledge about the caller, his or her previous orders or questions anddetails of their account without having to depend upon a touchtone(DTMF) entered account number or the telephone number of the caller asis done on conventional call center equipment. This is oftenerror-prone. As no telephony equipment is involved, agent workstationscan be entirely web based, requiring no special integration with callcenter infrastructure.

In addition to finding answers in the knowledge base 128, the expertsystem 106 can be used to easily route VoIP calls to live agents 112based upon the nature of the question, or the identity of the caller.The expert system 106 can be configured with rules to send a customer102 to the same agent 112 on multiple calls, such as a personal bankerin the case of financial services contact management.

The customer service session 110 can be implemented using WebRTC, e.g.,providing a dedicated WebRTC channel in response to the user's inquiry.The expert system 106 can respond via the WebRTC channel with textmessages, hypertext, stored videos or other digital content which may bedelivered to a web client.

In some instances the customer service session 110 includes a virtuallocation or room. By allowing the WebRTC platform to utilize a virtualroom concept or model, customers can easily be engaged with multiplecompany endpoints at the same time (e.g., the expert system, a liveagent, a supervisor/monitor, recording or playback functions).

In some embodiments, the customer's room can be maintained and/orarchived. Such maintenance or archiving can be provided indefinitely, oraccording to a time limit or threshold. A time limit may be set for anumber of minutes, hours, days, weeks, and the like. Often times, acustomer who contacts the customer service for one issue maysubsequently re-contact the service again in relation to the same orsimilar issue.

By way of example, a triple-play customer who subscribes to voice, dataand cable service may have an issue with one of the services, e.g.,cable. Resolution of the issue in a first customer service session mayrequire a re-setting, power-cycling, and/or replacement of a hardwareitem. Such actions may interrupt the customer's communication exchangewith the customer service. By maintaining the customer's room, thecustomer can be redirected or otherwise routed to the pre-establishedroom after the momentary interruption. Other customer care resourcesassociated with the room can maintain their association, e.g., inanticipation of a re-connection of the customer equipment. Records, suchas customer records, records of progress towards resolution, and so oncan remain available to the associated resource(s). To the extent thecommunication exchange of the session is being recorded, recording cancontinue after the interruption. By preserving many, most or all of thefeatures of the earlier session, any inconvenience to the customer isminimized, improving the customer's overall experience and preferablyfacilitating a speedy and successful resolution to the issue.

It may be impractical to maintain association of at least someresources, such as live, human agents in at least some situations.Accordingly, preservation of a session and/or any associations to thesession can be conditional. Conditions can include responding torequests by a customer, e.g., the customer places customer servicesession on hold to answer another call or tend to some other urgent, butmomentary matter. Alternatively or in addition, conditions can includeresponding to requests of a customer service resource, such as theautomated bot and/or live, human agent. Alternatively or in addition,still other conditions can be based on other factors, such as serviceoutage reports, network traffic, resource utilization and/oravailability, an identity of the customer, a level of subscriptionservice of the customer, and so forth. Thus, a customer who hassubscribed to a premium service and/or a customer who may have had anegative experience during an earlier customer service session, may beextended a convenience of preserving their room and/or association ofone or more customer resources with their room.

In some embodiments, a virtual agent or bot can engage with the customer102, while the customer is waiting for a live, human agent to comeonline. To this end, the bot can assist by finding and suggestingtutorials, videos and other content that may help the customer resolvethe problem. The customer can peruse this content while waiting for ahuman agent to become available. It is foreseeable that at least someissues can be resolved by the virtual agent during a waiting period forthe live agent.

Because the interaction is over a web-browser, the expert system 106 cancompose responses that navigate the customer 102 to a web page where thecustomer can complete an automation process such as a provisioning stepin activating the customer's service and can populate a hyperlink withform values which will then automatically populate the desired page. Sothe system can collect information from the user interactively and thendirect the caller to a web-page with the form already filled in with allof the customer's information.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a contact center 200 of thecustomer care service system of FIG. 1. The contact center 200 includesa virtual waiting room 204, a virtual service room 206, a knowledgesystem 208, e.g., including a knowledge base, and in at least someembodiments, a media archive 210. Other contact resources include one ormore automated software agents 212, or bots, and one or more live, humanagents 215. A queue manager 216 receives service requests from one ormore customers 214 and manages access and/or association of one or moreof the contact center resources 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, 215.

The waiting room 204 can include a common resource that can be accessedsimultaneously by multiple customers 214, e.g., entering and leaving atdifferent or random times. By way of example, the waiting room can beaccessed by a common address, such as a customer service center addressor contact reference. A common address can include, without limitation,a telephone number, a network address, an IP address, a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) and the like.

The waiting room 204 can provide information that can be updated fromtime to time. In at least some embodiments, the waiting room 204includes self-help resources, such as links to information related tocommon issues. Common issues may vary from time to time, e.g., as newequipment is introduced to a customer base, as software updates areimplemented, and/or as various aspects of a network are modified. By wayof example, the waiting room can include a web site or collection of oneor more web pages accessible by a web address or uniform resourcelocator (URL). The waiting room 204 can be static or dynamic. Forexample, the waiting room 204 can include topical resources that can bearranged in a hierarchal manner and selectable by a customer to accessfurther detail associated with any one topic. Links to self-helpmaterial can be included, e.g., such as links to text, audio and/orvideo.

A customer 214 can remain associated with or otherwise in the waitingroom 204, while the customer 214 reviews the self-help material. Shouldthe self-help material be sufficient, the customer 214 can leave orotherwise exit the waiting room 204 at any time. In this manner, acustomer's time spent waiting for access to other resources can beproductive, and in at least some instances, sufficient to resolve somecustomer inquiries and/or issues.

Continuing with an illustrative example, in a first step (1), a customer214 enters the waiting room 204. In a second step (2), a queue manager216 is notified that the customer 214 has entered the waiting room 204.In a third step (3), the queue manager 216 extends an invitation to thecustomer 214 to access a service room 206. In some embodiments, thequeue manager 216 facilitates the service room 206 upon notificationthat the customer 214 has entered the waiting room. Alternatively or inaddition, the queue manager 216 facilitates the service room 206conditionally, e.g., upon acceptance of the invitation by the customer214. For situations in which there is a delay in preparing the serviceroom 206, the queue manager 216 can provide further notification thatthe service room 206 is ready or otherwise available. The customer 214is then allowed to enter or otherwise directed or passed to the serviceroom 206.

It is envisioned that the service room 206 can include an IP addressassociated with the customer. A port can also be assigned to whichapplications, communication exchanges the customer equipment and/orservice center resources can be associated. One such examplearchitecture includes WebRTC, which web browsers configured with WebRTCAPIs can communicate. Other configurations include client-serverscenarios, in which a client app, e.g., on the customer equipment accessone or more server apps provided by the contact center 200. Still otherconfigurations can include legacy telephony equipment and/or IVRsystems. Although such legacy systems can be considered less desirable,situations can occur in which significant existing legacy resources canparticipate in at least some aspects of the solution, e.g., accessing alive agent 215.

Continuing with the illustrative example, in a fourth step (4), thequeue manager 216 signals or otherwise facilitates an association of avirtual agent 212 with the service room 206. In at least someembodiments, a recording of the session begins. The recording caninclude recording of one or more of various contact modes used duringthe session, such as text chat, voice, video. In at least someembodiments, a virtual agent is always available so the customer neverhas to wait for a response.

In a fifth step (5), the virtual agent 212 attempts to respond to orotherwise resolve customer issue or problem. The virtual agent 212 canreceive a customer inquiry by any of the one or more contact modes andanalyze the customer inquiry, e.g., to determine the nature, category,topic, etc., of the particular issue or problem. The virtual agent 212can utilize the knowledge base 208, e.g., by mining the knowledge base208 for resolutions and/or responses to similar issues and/or inquiries.

To the extent that the virtual agent 212 can resolve the issue orproblem, the session can terminate. It is understood that anytermination can include a corresponding assessment. The assessment caninclude a customer assessment or rating, e.g., in which a customerresponds to a question and/or completes a brief survey. Alternatively orin addition, the assessment can include a contact center rating, e.g.,completed by the virtual agent 212. Assessments can be binary indetermining whether the issue or problem was resolved or not.Alternatively or in addition, the assessments can be multidimensional toprovide further insight into the success of the session, the customer'ssatisfaction, the contact center's perceived efficiency, and the like.

To the extent that the virtual agent 212 cannot resolve the issue orproblem, the virtual agent 212 may requests the assistance of one ormore additional resources in a sixth step (6). In the illustrativeexample, the virtual agent 212 requests the help of a live, human agent215. The request is made to the queue manager 216. In a seventh step(7), the queue manager 216 invites a next available live, human agent215 into the customer's virtual service room 206.

In an eighth step (8), the live, human agent 215 enters the customer'sroom 206. In a ninth step (9), the virtual agent 212 leaves the serviceroom, or transitions into an inactive mode, e.g., “goes silent,”responsive to the live, human agent 215 entering the room 206. Leavingthe room 206 can include disassociating the virtual agent 212 from thecustomer's room 206, such that the virtual agent 212 is available toservice other requests.

In at least some embodiments, the virtual agent 212 continues to monitorprogress of the session, while in the inactive or silent mode. Forexample, the virtual agent 212 can assess communication exchanges by anyof the one or more various contact modes to determine whether thecustomer is dissatisfied, whether the agent is not making sufficient ortime progress, and the like. The virtual agent 212 can respond in one ormore various manners to detecting that further assistance and/orescalation of the situation would facilitate resolution of the issue orproblem. For example, the virtual agent 212 might act in an advisorymanner, providing insightful recommendations and/or supportinginformation to the live agent 215. Such supplemental information can beprovided via a separate or “side” communication channel between thevirtual agent 212 and the live agent 215, without exposing the sidechannel to the customer.

The virtual agent can monitor other customer indicators, such as facialrecognition indicators, voice or speech indicators and/or moodassessors, e.g., based on one or more of the image or audio feedback, todetermine whether other customer care resources should be joined to thesession, and/or other customer care strategies applied. For example,detecting a customer using a loud tone, speaking in an abrupt manner,and the like can be an indication of customer frustration that should beaddressed or otherwise diffused as soon as possible. It is understoodthat any queueing can be modified to take into account a customer'sreaction or mood, among other factors.

Alternatively or in addition, the virtual agent might submit asubsequent request to the queue manager 216 to invite a supervisorylive, human agent or subject matter expert to participate in thesession. The queue manager 216 can submit a request for a next availablesupervisor and/or subject matter expert to enter the service room 206.It may be helpful in at least some situations to also establish acommunication channel between the live, human agent, the supervisor orsubject matter expert and/or the virtual agent 212. Once again, thisother or side channel can be shielded from the customer to allow forprivate communications between the participating service resources andwithout distracting from the communication exchange with the customer.

Although the illustrative examples refer to a single virtual agentand/or a single live agent servicing a single customer's room, it isenvisioned that situations can occur in which more than one virtualagent and/or more than one live, human agents might service the samecustomer's room at the same time. Servicing can include participating inan active mode by participating in a communication exchange with thecustomer and/or participating in a standby mode in which the resourcemay not be participating directly in the communication exchange with thecustomer.

Continuing with the illustrative example, the service center 200processes communication exchange between the customer, the virtual agent212 and/or the live agent 215, supervisor, subject matter expert, and soforth. The analysis can identify various information related to thecommunication that are suitable for serving as metadata. Thisinformation can include, without limitation, identification of the issueor problem, e.g., according to one or more of a category orsub-category, associated equipment and/or services, unsuccessfulsolution attempts, participating agent(s), geographic location, networklocation, date, software versions, and the like. After the customerservice session has concluded the complete recording and/or theresulting metadata can be stored, e.g., by the virtual agent 212, in theknowledge base 208.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a customer service system300 with detail of communication exchanges based on the capabilities ofthe customer care service system 100 of FIG. 1 and/or the contact center200 of FIG. 2. The system 300 includes a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU)302 and a session controller 304. A customer 306 interacts with thesystem 300 by way of customer equipment 308. The customer equipment caninclude a client 310, e.g., a web browser that provides access to one ormore of audio, video, text or files. A live, human agent 312 interactswith the system 300 by way of agent equipment 314. The agent equipment314 can include a client 316, e.g., a web browser that provides accessto one or more of audio, video, text or files. In at least someembodiments, a live, human supervisory agent or subject matter expert318 interacts with the system 300 by way of supervisor equipment 320.The supervisor equipment 320 can include a client 322, e.g., a webbrowser that provides access to one or more of audio, video, text orfiles. Example web browser include without limitation, Microsoft Edge,Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, iOS Bowser, and Blackberry.

Information 324 a from the customer is distributed by the SFU 302, e.g.,in a first stream 324 b to the agent equipment 314 and a second stream324 c to the supervisor equipment 320, if applicable. The information,or data streams 324 a, 324 b, 324 c, can include audio, e.g., usingVoIP, messaging protocols, e.g., based on SMS, MMS, chat, and moregenerally in any data stream. Alternatively or in addition, data streamscan be used to share presentations, animations, keystrokes, mouseevents, GPS coordinates, machinery, security or automotive metricscollection, etc. Information from the agent 326 a, e.g., audio usingVoIP, SMS, MMS chat, and the like are distributed by the SFU 302 in astream 326 b to the customer equipment 308 and in a stream 326 c thesupervisor equipment 320, if applicable. In at least some embodiments,information from the supervisor agent 328 a, e.g., audio using VoIP,SMS, MMS chat, and the like are distributed by the SFU 302 in a stream328 b to the agent equipment 314. The supervisor agent stream can bedirected to the agent 312 to the exclusion of the customer 306, asshown. Alternatively or in addition, the supervisor agent stream can bedirected to the agent 312 and to the customer 306. It is envisioned thatchanges to the direction and destination of any of the communicationstreams can be altered or otherwise redirected during the course of acustomer service session. Alternatively or in addition, the SFU 302 canallow for an independent selection of media streams, e.g., based oncontent type. By way of example, a customer may elect to receive audioonly, while the live agent sends audio and video simultaneously. Eachmedia stream can be independently defined and the SFU 302 can be set toforward only certain media types, such as the audio only, based on thecustomer's election.

Communications exchanges, without limitation, can be facilitated bySecure Real Time Transport Protocol (sRTP) to deliver real time audioand/or video over IP networks. Streaming media, can apply encryption, besubject to message authentication and/or integrity, and/or apply relayprotection to data. For example, a unicast and or multicast RTP sessionis established for each multimedia stream. An RTP session is generallyunderstood to consist of an IP address with a pair of ports for RTP andRTCP services. In some embodiments, a Secure Real Time Control Protocol(sRTCP) is used to control RTP session. This can include, withoutlimitation, monitoring transmission statistics and quality of service(QoS), e.g., to aid in synchronization of multiple streams.

Continuing with the illustrative example, the agent equipment 314 andthe supervisor equipment 320, if applicable, are in communication withthe session controller 304 utilizing Extensible Messaging and PresenceProtocol (XMPP) channels 330, 332. XMPP provides a communicationsprotocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML that enablesnear-real-time exchange of structured yet extensible data between anytwo or more network entities. The session controller 304, in turn, is incommunication with the SFU 302 utilizing a CoLiBri (Conferences withlightweight bridging) protocol channel 334. A CoLiBri specificationdefines an XMPP extension that allows real-time communications clientsto discover and interact with conference bridges that provide conferencemixing or relaying capabilities.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example customer careservice system 400 of FIG. 1 and/or contact center of FIG. 2. The system400 includes a client agent 402, configured with customer service center(CSC) Javascript resources 404 a. A user client 406 also configured withCSC Javascript resources 404 b interacts with or otherwise accesses aCSC WebRTC platform 408 by way of a media bridge 410. In someembodiments, the media bridge 410 provides functionality of the SFU 302(FIG. 3). In some embodiments, the SFU 320 and the media bridge 410 canbe considered as interchangeable. For example, an SFU 320 can beconsidered as a specific example of a media bridge 410, e.g., serving asa lightweight and easily managed media bridge.

The WebRTC platform 408 includes a session controller 412, a chatpresence controller 414, a user management module 416, and a securityzone 418. The security zone 418 includes a user database 420, a clientcode repository 422, a media cache 424 and a session archive 426.

The system 400 can include or otherwise interact with one or moreservice provider web servers 428, each hosting one or more serviceprovider apps 430 that can include Java archive resources 432 designedto allow interaction with the WebRTC platform 408. Likewise, the system400 can include or otherwise interact with one or more third party webservers 434, each hosting one or more service provider apps 434 a . . .434 n that can include also Java archive resources 436 provided to allowinteraction between the service provider apps 434 a-n and the WebRTCplatform 408, and session monitoring database 438.

In at least some embodiments, the system includes one or more additionalservers of functional modules, such as a credential server 440, aJavascript library server 442, a web server 444, a secure STUN/TURNserver 446 and a queue controller 448.

Although WebRTC enables peer-to-peer communications, servers can be usedto support client exchanges of metadata, e.g., to coordinatecommunication. Such exchanges can include signaling that can provide,among other services, means for coping with network address translatorsand firewalls. In more detail, signaling can include, withoutlimitation, session control messages used to open or closecommunication, error messages, media metadata such as codecs and codecsettings, bandwidth and media types, Key data, e.g., used to establishsecure connections, network data, such as a host's IP address and portas seen by the outside world, and the like.

Peer discovery can be accomplished, e.g., by telephone numbers anddirectories for telephone calls. Presence management systems can be usedfor online video chat and messaging and as a means for users to initiatesessions. Initiating a WebRTC session can include one or more of anemail or message that includes a URL.

WebRTC apps can use an Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE)framework to facilitate networking. For example, an application can passICE server URLs to an RTC Peer Connection. The ICE framework determinesa path to connect peers and tries to make a connection using a hostaddress obtained from a device's operating system and network card. Ifthat fails, e.g., for devices behind network address translators (NAT),the ICE framework obtains an external address using a STUN (SessionTraversal Utilities for NAT) server 446. A STUN server can be used toget an external network address. The STUN server uses a standardized setof methods and a network protocol that allows an end host to discoverits public IP address if it is located behind a network addresstranslator (NAT). If that fails, the traffic can be routed via a TURN(Traversal Using Relays around NAT) relay server 446. The TURN serveruses a protocol that assists in traversal of NAT or firewalls formultimedia applications.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative embodiment of another example customercare service system 500 of FIG. 1 and/or contact center of FIG. 2. Inparticular, the example customer care service system 500 includes anopen source based service platform. A WebRTC platform 502 is incommunication with equipment of end users and/or business partners 504,e.g., that includes one or more of browsers 506, custom apps 508, socialmedia platforms 510, or enterprise servers 512. The WebRTC platform 205includes a call center 514, one or more SFU(s) 516 a session manager518, and a media archive 520 in communication with an archive manager522. Other features of the WebRTC platform 502 can include, e.g., apresence server 524 and one or more messaging servers 526.

In some embodiments, an interface to the WebRTC platform 502 can beprovided by an external social media platform such as Facebook® orLinkedIn® or Tinder® or Twitter® social media applications. Such aninterface allows users of social media to interact with the WebRTCplatform 502 by way of the social media applications. For example, acustomer might complain via a Twitter® social media application bout aparticular product purchased from a particular department store. Thecomplaint via the Twitter® social media application can be identified orotherwise detected, e.g., by a monitoring service, and evaluated toidentify details, such as the particular department store and thecomplaining customer. A customer care agent or bot of the particulardepartment store can react to the complaint by contacting thecomplaining customer, e.g., by way of the WebRTC platform 502, in anattempt to resolve the problem.

The session manager 518 and the SFU(s) are in communication with theequipment of the end users and/or business partners. For example, thesystem 500 utilizes WebRTC and/or STUN to manage interactions betweenthe SFU and the end user and/or business partner equipment 504.Similarly, the system 500 utilizes XMPP and/or REST to manageinteractions between the session manager 518 and the end user and/orbusiness partner equipment 504.

In some embodiments, the WebRTC platform 502 is in communication withone or more other applications utilizing a cloud service 528. Examplesinclude, without limitation, one or more of applications 530, mediaapplications 532, notification services 534 or federation services 536.Applications 530 can include, without limitation, any conventionalapplication built by a third party developer that runs on the cloudservice. Media applications 532 can include, without limitation, anyapplications that process real-time media provided by the WebRTCplatform 502, for instance, for speech recognition, or video analysis orfor video enhancement (such as adding cat ears to a face on a videosource or increasing contrast to compensate for poor lighting).

Alternatively or in addition, the WebRTC platform 502 is incommunication with one or more of an IPTV service 538, e.g., providingan IPTV distribution service 540 or an IMS service 542, providing one ormore of VoLTE services 544 or IPFlex services 546. In at least someembodiments, one or more protocol adapters 548 are provided between theWebRTC platform 502 and one or both of the IPTV service 538 or the IMSservice 542. In at least some embodiments, the same protocol adapter 548may not be suitable to adapt to both IPTV and IMS services should themedia standards be different. Accordingly, the session manager 518and/or the call center 514 can leverage one or more of the variousavailable assets in planning, managing and executing customer careservices.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process 600 usedby one or more of the systems 100-400 of FIGS. 1-4. The process 600relates to an omni-channel customer care interface that supports apersistent customer care session. The persistent customer care sessionfacilitates an exchange of information between customer equipment andone or more customer care resources according to one or more differentcontact or communication modes. Example contact modes include, withoutlimitation, chat, voice, hypertext and video. Example customer careresources include, without limitation, an automated software agent or“bot,” one or more different live agents, e.g., tech support,supervisors and/or subject matter experts.

In at least some applications, the persistent customer care session canbe accessed by a sign-in, access and/or authorization process. When asingle sign-in process is used, the single sign-in can be sufficient toaccess any combination of the customer service resources withoutrequiring any further sign-in, access and/or authorization. In someapplications persistent cookies can be used to establish and selectpersistent sessions. Persistent cookies can be used to keep users loggedin over an extended period of time, e.g., allowing them to continue toaccess a particular web service regardless of the period of time sincethey last joined. This can be accomplished on the same machine and/oracross multiple machines by using a browser that shares context, e.g.,the Chrome® browser.

According to the omni-channel customer care interface, one or morecustomer care resources can be brought into the session at differenttimes, as necessary. Moreover, any of the customer care resources can bebrought in according to one or more of the various contact modes.Multiple customer care resources can be engaged at once, some activelyand others passively to monitor the session. A private communicationchannel can be provided between customer care resources, for example,allowing live agents to communicate privately and share informationduring a session according to one or more of the various communicationmodes.

The customer can sign-on and enter a session via any one of the variouscommunication modes. In some embodiments, an automated bot initiates acommunications exchange with the customer equipment using the session.The bot can be configured to attempt an initial resolution without humaninteraction. To this end, the bot can implement a scripted or otherwisepre-programmed exchange with the customer to gather information.Information can be obtained from one or more of a user input orselection, e.g., via a user interface that can include a form and/orselectable lists of items. Alternatively or in addition, information canbe obtained from one or more other sources, such as pre-existing recordsrelated to one or more of the user or customer, the customer equipment,subscribed services, account status, and the like. In at least someembodiments, information can be obtained from other sources notnecessarily associated with a particular user. Such sources can include,without limitation, system and/or network status, other customer servicecalls, e.g., surging in relation to a widespread problem or issue,weather events, news events, and the like. In at least some embodiments,the automated bot accesses a solutions database in an attempt to resolvethe issue, before escalating or otherwise associating a live, humancustomer care resource with the customer care session.

In some embodiments, the session accommodates seamless transitions orswitches, without disturbing or otherwise redirecting the customerequipment from the session. Transitions can include, without limitation,changes between communication modes, e.g., transitioning from a textchat to voice, or from voice to video. Likewise, transitions can includeengaging and/or disengaging different customer care resources, asnecessary, e.g., introducing a live agent to the session initiated by abot. In at least some embodiments, transitions include switchingcustomer care resources from a passive mode to an active mode, or anactive mode to a passive mode as required.

For example, an active bot participating in a communication exchange ofan existing session with a customer may transition to an inactive modeupon introduction of a live customer service agent. At some point, e.g.,after a problem has been identified and/or solved, the bot may bere-activated to once again participate in the communication exchange ofthe existing session. A customer care resource in an inactive mode cancontinue to monitor the session. Namely, the customer care resource cancontinue to track or otherwise follow state transitions of the session,information exchanged, progress or lack thereof of issue resolution, andthe like, without actively participating in the communication exchangeor otherwise altering the state.

The customer service session provides a single customer interface thatbrings resource(s) to the session as opposed to moving the customerand/or the session to the resource(s). This approach supports seamlesstransitions between customer care resources and communication modes,without disrupting or otherwise inconveniencing a customer being served.Information, such as the nature of the issue, customer equipment,subscribed service(s), account status, progress towards resolution andso forth can be maintained and shared among customer service resourcesas they join an active session and as they transition between active andpassive modes in relation to the active session.

In the example process 600, a request from customer equipment to accessa customer service session is identified at 602. The request can be madeby any suitable means, such as an instant message, an SMS, an MMS,accessing a web site, an email, a VoIP call. In some embodiments, therequest can be made by way of an application or app resident on a user'sdevice, e.g., a mobile app. In some scenarios, the app includes a webclient running on the user's device that communicates with a web serveroperated by the customer service provider and/or third party customerservice provider. Alternatively or in addition, the request can be madeusing a web browser, e.g., using WebRTC APIs.

In the illustrative example, the process facilitates a WebRTCinteractive session at 604. WebRTC can be used to enable web browserswith real-time communications via simple Javascript APIs. Featuresinclude acquiring media from customer equipment, e.g., by providingcontrol of a customer's camera, microphone and/or speakers. WebRTC alsosupports peer-to-peer (P2P) connections, e.g., between a customer's webbrowser and one or more of an automated software agent, or bot, acustomer service provider's server, or a web browser or serverapplication of a live, human agent or subject matter expert. In someembodiments, a WebRTC gateway allows end users to access SIP basedhosted PBX and call centers without a need to change these services.

The process, using a bot, determines a customer inquiry at 606. Thisdetermination can be based on one or more user inputs received from thecustomer equipment. By way of example, user inputs can include text,e.g., by way of an email, a chat message, or a text entry in a webpageor portal. Alternatively or in addition, user inputs can include voice,e.g., analyzed with a voice recognition service. In at least someembodiments, the customer inquiry can be determined according to a userselection from a predetermined list of issues and/or topics.

The customer inquiry is analyzed at 608. Analysis can include one ormore of voice recognition, parsing of text messages, identification ofselections based on predetermined listings, and the like. For analysesusing voice recognition to obtain a textual representation, theresulting text messages can be further parsed and interpreted. In atleast some embodiments, analysis includes identification of keywords.Keywords can be used to identify topical areas, such as billing,equipment, service, and the like. Customer inquiry analysis can includedetermining one or more ancillary features, such as a customer'sidentity, equipment type, service plan, account status, geographiclocation, network location, and the like.

One or more of the ancillary features can be obtained withoutnecessarily making a request and/or interpreting a customer'scommunication. For example, a customer's identity, equipment type,service plan and account status and the like can be determined based onauthentication and/or authorization of the customer as might bedetermined by an initial authorization process.

The process identifies a list of topics based on the analysis of thecustomer inquiry at 610. Rules that relate to the customer inquiry areidentified at 612 using the list of topics. Rules can be pre-determinedbased on individual topics. Alternatively or in addition, at least somerules can be pre-determined based on a combination of topics. The rulescan be used by one or more of the customer resources to address orotherwise resolve the customer's inquiry or issue. For example, the botcan apply the rules to request additional information from the customer,obtain additional information from the merchant or service providerand/or third party systems. Some rules can include analyses of ancillaryinformation, such as network statistics, equipment performance history,customer account history, and the like. In some embodiments, the rulescan include obtaining metrics and/or analytics based on the nature ofthe customer inquiry. In some embodiments the rules can include ascripted conversation. The scripted conversation can include a decisiontree to facilitate resolution of the customer inquiry.

A response is formulated based on the rules at 614, and a determinationis made at 616 as to whether the response is suitable or otherwiseapplicable. The response can be based on any of the foregoing, e.g.,customer replies to questions posed by the bot, status of ancillaryinformation, metrics, analytics, and the like. It is conceivable thatone or more alternative responses can be identified, e.g., each with itsrespective probability or weighting.

Suitability of a response can be determined according to one or moremeasures. For example, if the response is identified with a relativelyhigh degree of certainty, then it can be provided. A threshold ormultiple thresholds of certainty or probability of suitability can beidentified. If a particular response has an associated probability thatexceeds the threshold, it can be provided. In some embodiments, thethresholds can be tailored or otherwise adjusted based on the customer'sidentity, records of past dealings, aggregate customer ratings, and thelike.

In some embodiments, suitability is subjectively determined by thecustomer. They can indicate that they are not satisfied with aparticular response, with the response process, with processing delay,and the like. A customer might say or text, “I'm not satisfied,” or“that won't work” or “I want to speak to a live agent” or the like.Alternatively or in addition, the customer might select a menu item orbutton that indicates whether the customer is satisfied, problemresolved, or the like.

To the extent that the response is suitable, a response is sent to thecustomer equipment at 618. In some scenarios, the response can beidentified with relative certainty. In other scenarios, the response maybe accompanied by a probability or weighting. The bot can decide whetherto provide the response, or to qualify the response based on thecorresponding probability or weighting. When multiple alternativeresponses are possible, the bot can provide the alternative responses,e.g., prioritizing the responses according to their respectiveprobabilities or likelihoods.

To the extent that the response is not suitable, a live agent is invitedto participate in the interactive session at 620. Once again, the liveagent joins an existing session, without any need to move the customerto another customer service session. The customer remains, e.g., in thesame virtual room as the different resources are added, modified and/orremoved.

The live agent can be invited by the bot or by a queue scheduler. Arequest for live agent can be initiated in response to a determinationthat the bot response is not suitable according to any of the foregoingexamples. Alternatively or in addition, a request for a live agent canbe made before suitability of any response is determined, and in someinstances, before a response is determined. For example, a live agentmight be requested upon initiation of the interactive session as amatter of course. The request can be entered into a queue and a liveagent made available based on placement in the queue, agentavailability, level of escalation of a session and the like. Should theagent become available, they may choose or be placed automatically in amonitor mode. Namely, the live agent can begin monitoring a sessionbefore entering by request or otherwise.

In some embodiments, the bot can determine when a live agent beginsmonitoring or is otherwise available to participate. The determinationcan be made in response to receiving a notice from a scheduler or queuemanager, a communication and or acknowledgment of the same from theknowledge system and/or by the live agent making an announcement.

In some embodiments, the rules applied by the bot can vary dependingupon availability of an agent. If the agent is available early on in theprocess, the bot may offer to transition to the live agent beforedetermining any response. Alternatively, if the live agent is notavailable yet, e.g., delayed due to availability, the bot might prolong,e.g., stall, the automated portion of the customer service session if aresolution cannot be determined quickly. Such stalling tactics can keepthe customer engaged in the solution process, without the customernecessarily being aware that they are waiting for a live agent to becomeavailable.

In at least some embodiments, the live agent interactions with thecustomer are recorded at 622. It is understood that in at least someembodiments, automated agent interactions with the customer can berecorded too. It is more likely, however, that the live agentinteractions will occur for those issues that cannot be addressedswiftly or at all by the automated agent and the current knowledge base.As disclosed herein, the recorded interactions, and particularly therecorded live agent interactions, can be analyzed and used to update theknowledge base. Thus, the system includes a learning process whereby theknowledge base is updated based on a new solution worked out by the livehuman agent. With proper analysis and adoption, the knowledge base canbe updated so that the same or similar problem, when encountered in thefuture, can be addressed by the automated agent and/or the knowledgebase without having to engage a live agent for the same or similarproblem.

The process includes another opportunity to determine the customerinquiry at 624, having the benefit of the live agent. The live agentalone, or in combination with one or more of the bot, the knowledgebase, and/or other subject matter expert(s) works with the customer, andperhaps another agent or customer service resource, to identify aresponse. Ultimately, a response is formulated and provided to thecustomer equipment at 626.

Once again, a determination is made as to whether the customer issatisfied with the response at 628. The determination can include any ofthe foregoing techniques, including a subjective determination by thelive agent.

To the extent that the customer is satisfied, a knowledge base isupdated at 630 based on a satisfactory resolution of the customerinquiry. To the extent that the customer is not satisfied, theinteraction can be escalated at 632 using the interactive session.Escalation can include joining a supervisor, a manager and/or anothersubject matter expert to the existing session. To the extent escalationsoccur, the process can repeat, e.g., from step 620.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process 700 usedby one or more of the systems of FIGS. 1-4. The process 700 includesadding and/or changing customer care resources associated with acustomer care session. Generally, customer care resources can be addedto a session in a number of different ways, such as: (a)self-identified, (b) resource availability driven, (c) soft transitions,and (d) automatically identified.

Self-identified transitions can occur when a customer care resourcedetermines an escalation, de-escalation or media shift is necessary. Forexample an automated agent, or bot may determine that problem resolutionis not available or has failed, choosing to route calls to live agentsbased upon the nature of the question, the skillset of the agent or theidentity of the caller and caller information that indicates a previousagent on the same matter. In a further example, a first live agentparticipating in a customer care session may determine that a differentlive agent is required. Alternatively or in addition, a live agentmonitoring a customer service session with a first live agent or a botmay take over the session from the first live agent or the bot. Othertransitions include shifting from chat to voice, voice to video, liveagent to bot with passive monitoring, etc.

Resource availability driven transitions can occur when customer careresources are employed temporarily until other resources are available.For example, a bot can be employed until a live agent becomes available.

Soft transitions can occur when a particular customer care resource“times-out.” An automatic soft escalation can occur due to a presumedfailure, with an escalated resource being added first as a monitor tothe existing customer care resource. In this fashion, a live agent canbegin monitoring a bot or a supervisor can begin monitoring a liveagent, and so on. The escalated resource can take control and begindirect involvement—but only if necessary. The escalated resource wouldhave an advantage of having been initially monitoring progress of thesession, reviewing related information, and the like.

An automatically identified transition can be triggered by an automatedsession manager that runs in the background and reviews the sessionbased on analytics (more than just time) to determine if escalation isrequired. For example, based on a score as to appropriateness of theknowledge base information and/or detection of keywords of userindicating a need for the customer to talk to a human, the system canescalate to a human agent. Further review of a session with a live agentcan determine if escalation to a different live agent or supervisor isrequired. The escalation can be implemented via a soft transition asdescribed above with passive monitoring implemented along with theoption for the escalated resource to switch to active participation.

The process 700 detects a customer service inquiry at 702. A firstcustomer care resource is associated with a first communication sessionat 704.

A determination is made at 706 as to whether another customer careresource should be associated with the first communication session. Tothe extent that the process determines that another customer careresource should be added, the process identifies the other customer careresource at 710. The other customer care resource is associated with thefirst communications session at 712, a response to the customer inquiryis determined at 714.

A determination is made at 718 as to whether the response is applicableor otherwise suitable. To the extent the response is suitable, theprocess continues by repeating for other customer service inquiries at702. However, to the extent the response is not suitable, the processescalates at 720.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process 800 usedby the systems of FIGS. 1-4. While a live agent is interacting with acustomer within the context of a customer service session, an expertsystem records the session. The recorded session can be stored in anarchive. In some embodiments, keywords are identified within theinteractive session with the agent. At a conclusion of an interaction, acustomer satisfaction with the session is rated. Alternatively or inaddition, agent feedback is obtained to determine if the session isdeemed satisfactory. Further analysis can assess whether the session isdifferent from other sessions already available in a database of theexpert system. If so, the recorded session is processed and added to theknowledge base.

Processing can include anonymizing the data, e.g., to remove anycustomer sensitive personal information. The anonymized data can befurther processed or otherwise cleaned to remove any unnecessary or“ugly” communications that took place in the prior session. Accordinglythe data obtained from the recorded content is “cleansed” so it appearsto be a favorable response to a particular product. For example, thecleansing process can remove unnecessary customer dialog like “hello?How are you,” off-topic communications, disparaging comments, and thelike.

The processing further includes automated metadata creation such as thekeywords extracted from the exchange, a problem statement and category,geographical location of the customer, the service or product type, etc.

The processed session is put into a “golden database” of high-qualityinformation from which a bot can use. When a bot is brought into asubsequent session, it has access to this data and can use it to addressissues with customers as an automatic response that lays out aparticular solution.

The process 800 records customer service voice interaction with liveagent at 802. The voice interactions are processed at 804.

A customer rating of the voice interactions is obtained at 806.

A determination is made at 808 as to whether the customer is satisfiedwith the service response. To the extent that the customer is satisfied,live agent rating of the voice interaction are obtained at 810.

A determination is made at 814 whether the agent perceives that thecustomer's inquiry has having been satisfactorily addressed.

To the extent it is determined that the customer, the agent or both areunsatisfied, the voice interaction can be evaluated at 812 for furtherreview and/or action.

To the extent it is determined that both the customer and the agent aresatisfied, the issue/resolution is compared to an expert database at816.

According to the comparison, a determination is made at 818 as towhether the same or similar issue has already been covered. To theextent that the same or similar issue has not already been covered, theexpert database is updated at 822.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative embodiment of an example process 900 usedby one or more of the systems of FIGS. 1-4. An automated session managerruns in the background and reviews the session based on analytics toalso determine if it can assist the live, human agents in providing thebest information to the customer. A, so called, “golden database” can besearched based on a match between content of the communication exchangeand metadata associated with prior captured sessions.

If the automated session manager determines that a captured session of aparticular solution from the “golden database” is applicable to acurrent session with a live agent, the session manager can provide thisto the live agent (like whispering in the agent's ear) to assist thelive agent in the resolution. This provides a form of just-in-timetraining that gives human agents access to the most current solutions tothe most difficult problems, without the need for the agent to searchfor them. Once identified based on an automated review of the database,the session manager proactively pushes these captured sessions to theagents for review and use in giving support in a live session.

The process 900 detects customer service interaction with a live agentat 902. Background monitoring is applied to customer service interactionat 904. Analytics are applied to the monitored customer service sessionat 906.

Prior captured sessions are searched at 908 forsuitability/applicability.

A determination is made at 910 as to whether any prior captured sessionsare applicable to the current issue. To the extent that it is determinedthat no prior captured sessions are applicable, the process 900 cancontinue to apply the background monitoring of the customer serviceinteraction at 904, and repeating the subsequent steps.

To the extent that it is determined that a prior captured session isapplicable, a private channel is facilitated with live agent and to theexclusion of the customer. Namely, communications with the live agentoccurring on the private channel are hidden from the customer. Thecustomer can continue to interact with the live agent without anyindication that the live agent has established a private channel withanother customer service resource.

The process 900 advises live agent at 914, via the private channel andbased on applicable prior captured session(s). In a three waycommunication between the live agent, the customer and the customerservice resource, it is as if the live agent has the benefit of anexpert system whispering in their ear during the service session withthe customer. As a result, an experience level or knowledge base of anylive agent can be elevated instantly to an appropriate level responsiveto the particular issues being addressed with the customer.

This approach can benefit management and utilization of a live agentpool by allowing the live agents to service a wider range of customercalls with a greater degree of authority and accuracy. Beneficially,such benefits can be achieved without a need for additional live agenttraining. Indeed, an entire core of live agents can be effectivelytrained on a new solution by simply incorporating the new solution intoa common knowledge base. Rather, the expert system or database isapplied judiciously to an existing customer service session, without thecustomer being aware that a third party, e.g., the additional customerservice resource, is participating.

While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the respectiveprocesses are shown and described as a series of blocks in FIGS. 6-9, itis to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter isnot limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what isdepicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks maybe required to implement the methods described herein.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a first communicationsystem 1000 for delivering media content. The communication system 1000can represent an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) media system.Communication system 1000 can be overlaid or operably coupled with thecustomer care service systems of FIG. 1, FIGS. 4-5, and/or the contactcenter of FIG. 2, e.g., according to the communication exchanges of FIG.3, as another representative embodiment of communication system 1000.For instance, one or more devices illustrated in the communicationsystem 1000 of FIG. 10 determine a service request and facilitate afirst service session that allows customer equipment to accesses thefirst service session via a first contact mode, such as voice, chat orvideo. A first contact resource is associated with the first servicesession, and participates in a communication exchange with the customerequipment via the first service session according to the first contactmode. A second customer contact resource is associated with the firstservice session based on an analysis of a customer inquiry. The secondcontact resource participates in the communication exchange via thefirst service session and according to a second contact mode that can bethe same as or different from the first contact mode.

The IPTV media system can include a super head-end office (SHO) 1010with at least one super headend office server (SHS) 1011 which receivesmedia content from satellite and/or terrestrial communication systems.In the present context, media content can represent, for example, audiocontent, moving image content such as 2D or 3D videos, video games,virtual reality content, still image content, and combinations thereof.The SHS server 1011 can forward packets associated with the mediacontent to one or more video head-end servers (VHS) 1014 via a networkof video head-end offices (VHO) 1012 according to a multicastcommunication protocol.

The VHS 1014 can distribute multimedia broadcast content via an accessnetwork 1018 to commercial and/or residential buildings 1002 housing agateway 1004 (such as a residential or commercial gateway). The accessnetwork 1018 can represent a group of digital subscriber line accessmultiplexers (DSLAMs) located in a central office or a service areainterface that provide broadband services over fiber optical links orcopper twisted pairs 1019 to buildings 1002. The gateway 1004 can usecommunication technology to distribute broadcast signals to mediaprocessors 1006 such as Set-Top Boxes (STBs) which in turn presentbroadcast channels to media devices 1008 such as computers or televisionsets managed in some instances by a media controller 1007 (such as aninfrared or RF remote controller).

The gateway 1004, the media processors 1006, and media devices 1008 canutilize tethered communication technologies (such as coaxial, powerlineor phone line wiring) or can operate over a wireless access protocolsuch as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Bluetooth®, Zigbee® or other presentor next generation local or personal area wireless network technologies.By way of these interfaces, unicast communications can also be invokedbetween the media processors 1006 and subsystems of the IPTV mediasystem for services such as video-on-demand (VoD), browsing anelectronic programming guide (EPG), or other infrastructure services.

A satellite broadcast television system 1029 can be used in the mediasystem of FIG. 10. The satellite broadcast television system can beoverlaid, operably coupled with, or replace the IPTV system as anotherrepresentative embodiment of communication system 1000. In thisembodiment, signals transmitted by a satellite 1015 that include mediacontent can be received by a satellite dish receiver 1031 coupled to thebuilding 1002. Modulated signals received by the satellite dish receiver1031 can be transferred to the media processors 1006 for demodulating,decoding, encoding, and/or distributing broadcast channels to the mediadevices 1008. The media processors 1006 can be equipped with a broadbandport to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network 1032 to enableinteractive services such as VoD and EPG as described above.

In yet another embodiment, an analog or digital cable broadcastdistribution system such as cable TV system 1033 can be overlaid,operably coupled with, or replace the IPTV system and/or the satelliteTV system as another representative embodiment of communication system1000. In this embodiment, the cable TV system 1033 can also provideInternet, telephony, and interactive media services. System 1000 enablesvarious types of interactive television and/or services including IPTV,cable and/or satellite.

The subject disclosure can apply to other present or next generationover-the-air and/or landline media content services system.

Some of the network elements of the Cable TV system 1033 can be coupledto one or more computing devices 1030, a portion of which can operate asa web server for providing web portal services over the ISP network 1032to wireline media devices 1008 or wireless communication devices 1016.

Communication system 1000 can also provide for all or a portion of thecomputing devices 1030 to function as a session controller and/or aselective forwarding unit (herein referred to as customer care centerserver 1030). The customer care center server 1030 can use computing andcommunication technology to perform function 1062, which can includeamong other things, one or more of the customer care center servicetechniques described by processes 600, 700, 800, 900 of FIGS. 6-9. Forinstance, the function 1062 of the customer care center server 1030 canbe similar to one or more of the functions described for the expertsystem 102 of FIG. 1, the waiting room 204, the service room 210, thebot 212 and/or the queue manager 216 of FIG. 2, the session controller304 and/or the selective forwarding unit 302 of FIG. 3, the WebRTCplatform 408 or other functional elements, e.g., servers, of FIG. 4 inaccordance with one or more of the processes 600, 700, 800, 900 of FIGS.6-9. The media processors 1006, the television 1008, and/or the wirelesscommunication devices 1016 can be provisioned with software functions1064, 1066 and 1068, respectively, to utilize the services of thecustomer care center server 1030. For instance, the functions 1062, 1066and 1068 of the media processors 1006, the television and the wirelesscommunication devices 1016 can be similar to one or more of thefunctions described for the devices 106, 128 of FIG. 1, the devices 206,208, 212 of FIG. 2, the devices 302, 304, 308, 314, 320 of FIG. 3,and/or the devices 408 of FIG. 4 in accordance with one or more of theprocesses 600, 700, 800, 900 of FIGS. 6-9.

Multiple forms of media services can be offered to media devices overlandline technologies such as those described above. Additionally, mediaservices can be offered to media devices by way of a wireless accessbase station 1017 operating according to common wireless accessprotocols such as Global System for Mobile or GSM, Code DivisionMultiple Access or CDMA, Time Division Multiple Access or TDMA,Universal Mobile Telecommunications or UMTS, World interoperability forMicrowave or WiMAX, Software Defined Radio or SDR, Long Term Evolutionor LTE, and so on. Other present and next generation wide area wirelessaccess network technologies can be used in one or more embodiments ofthe subject disclosure.

FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication system1100 employing an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network architecture tofacilitate the combined services of circuit-switched and packet-switchedsystems. Communication system 1100 can be overlaid or operably coupledwith the customer care service systems of FIGS. 1 and 4-5, and/or thecontact center of FIG. 2, e.g., according to the communication exchangesof FIG. 3 and as another representative embodiment of the communicationsystem 1000. For instance, one or more devices illustrated in thecommunication system 1100 of FIG. 11 determine a service request andfacilitate a first service session that allows customer equipment toaccesses the first service session via a first contact mode, such asvoice, chat or video. A first contact resource is associated with thefirst service session, and participates in a communication exchange withthe customer equipment via the first service session according to thefirst contact mode. A second customer contact resource is associatedwith the first service session based on an analysis of a customerinquiry. The second contact resource participates in the communicationexchange via the first service session and according to a second contactmode that can be the same as or different from the first contact mode.

The communication system 1100 can include a Home Subscriber Server (HSS)1140, a tElephone NUmber Mapping (ENUM) server 1130, and other networkelements of an IMS network 1150. The IMS network 1150 can establishcommunications between IMS-compliant communication devices (CDs) 1101,1102, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) CDs 1103, 1105, andcombinations thereof by way of a Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF)1120 coupled to a PSTN network 1160. The MGCF 1120 need not be used whena communication session involves IMS CD to IMS CD communications. Acommunication session involving at least one PSTN CD may utilize theMGCF 1120.

IMS CDs 1101, 1102 can register with the IMS network 1150 by contactinga Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) which communicates withan interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF), which in turn, communicates with aServing CSCF (S-CSCF) to register the CDs with the HSS 1140. To initiatea communication session between CDs, an originating IMS CD 1101 cansubmit a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP INVITE) message to anoriginating P-CSCF 1104 which communicates with a correspondingoriginating S-CSCF 1106. The originating S-CSCF 1106 can submit the SIPINVITE message to one or more application servers (ASs) 1117 that canprovide a variety of services to IMS subscribers.

For example, the application servers 1117 can be used to performoriginating call feature treatment functions on the calling party numberreceived by the originating S-CSCF 1106 in the SIP INVITE message.Originating treatment functions can include determining whether thecalling party number has international calling services, call IDblocking, calling name blocking, 7-digit dialing, and/or is requestingspecial telephony features (e.g., *72 forward calls, *73 cancel callforwarding, *67 for caller ID blocking, and so on). Based on initialfilter criteria (iFCs) in a subscriber profile associated with a CD, oneor more application servers may be invoked to provide various calloriginating feature services.

Additionally, the originating S-CSCF 1106 can submit queries to the ENUMsystem 1130 to translate an E.164 telephone number in the SIP INVITEmessage to a SIP Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) if the terminatingcommunication device is IMS-compliant. The SIP URI can be used by anInterrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) 1107 to submit a query to the HSS 1140 toidentify a terminating S-CSCF 1114 associated with a terminating IMS CDsuch as reference 1102. Once identified, the I-CSCF 1107 can submit theSIP INVITE message to the terminating S-CSCF 1114. The terminatingS-CSCF 1114 can then identify a terminating P-CSCF 1116 associated withthe terminating CD 1102. The P-CSCF 1116 may then signal the CD 1102 toestablish Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services,thereby enabling the calling and called parties to engage in voiceand/or data communications. Based on the iFCs in the subscriber profile,one or more application servers may be invoked to provide various callterminating feature services, such as call forwarding, do not disturb,music tones, simultaneous ringing, sequential ringing, etc.

In some instances the aforementioned communication process issymmetrical. Accordingly, the terms “originating” and “terminating” inFIG. 11 may be interchangeable. It is further noted that communicationsystem 1100 can be adapted to support video conferencing. In addition,communication system 1100 can be adapted to provide the IMS CDs 1101,1102 with the multimedia and Internet services of communication system1100 of FIG. 11.

If the terminating communication device is instead a PSTN CD such as CD1103 or CD 1105 (in instances where the cellular phone only supportscircuit-switched voice communications), the ENUM system 1130 can respondwith an unsuccessful address resolution which can cause the originatingS-CSCF 1106 to forward the call to the MGCF 1120 via a Breakout GatewayControl Function (BGCF) 1119. The MGCF 1120 can then initiate the callto the terminating PSTN CD over the PSTN network 1160 to enable thecalling and called parties to engage in voice and/or datacommunications.

It is further appreciated that the CDs of FIG. 11 can operate aswireline or wireless devices. For example, the CDs of FIG. 11 can becommunicatively coupled to a cellular base station 1121, a femtocell, aWiFi router, a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) baseunit, or another suitable wireless access unit to establishcommunications with the IMS network 1150 of FIG. 11. The cellular accessbase station 1121 can operate according to common wireless accessprotocols such as GSM, CDMA, TDMA, UMTS, WiMax, SDR, LTE, and so on.Other present and next generation wireless network technologies can beused by one or more embodiments of the subject disclosure. Accordingly,multiple wireline and wireless communication technologies can be used bythe CDs of FIG. 11.

Cellular phones supporting LTE can support packet-switched voice andpacket-switched data communications and thus may operate asIMS-compliant mobile devices. In this embodiment, the cellular basestation 1121 may communicate directly with the IMS network 1150 as shownby the arrow connecting the cellular base station 1121 and the P-CSCF1116.

Alternative forms of a CSCF can operate in a device, system, component,or other form of centralized or distributed hardware and/or software.Indeed, a respective CSCF may be embodied as a respective CSCF systemhaving one or more computers or servers, either centralized ordistributed, where each computer or server may be configured to performor provide, in whole or in part, any method, step, or functionalitydescribed herein in accordance with a respective CSCF. Likewise, otherfunctions, servers and computers described herein, including but notlimited to, the HSS, the ENUM server, the BGCF, and the MGCF, can beembodied in a respective system having one or more computers or servers,either centralized or distributed, where each computer or server may beconfigured to perform or provide, in whole or in part, any method, step,or functionality described herein in accordance with a respectivefunction, server, or computer.

The customer care center server 1030 of FIG. 10 can be operably coupledto communication system 1100 for purposes similar to those describedabove. The customer care center server 1030 can perform function 1062and thereby provide one or more of the customer care center services tothe CDs 1101, 1102, 1103 and 1105 of FIG. 11. These services can besimilar to one or more of the functions described for the expert system106 of FIG. 1, the waiting room 204, the service room 206, the bot 212and/or the queue manager 216 of FIG. 2, the session controller 304and/or the selective forwarding unit 302 of FIG. 3, the WebRTC platform408 or other functional elements, e.g., servers, of FIG. 4 in accordancewith one or more of the processes 600, 700, 800, 900 of FIGS. 6-9. TheCDs 1101, 1102, 1103 and 1105, which can be adapted with software toperform function 1172 to utilize the services of the customer carecenter server 1030 similar to one or more of the functions described forthe expert system 106 of FIG. 1, the waiting room 204, the service room206, the bot 212 and/or the queue manager 216 of FIG. 2, the sessioncontroller 304 and/or the selective forwarding unit 302 of FIG. 3, theWebRTC platform 408 or other functional elements, e.g., servers, of FIG.4 in accordance with one or more of the processes 600, 700, 800, 900 ofFIGS. 6-9. The customer care center server 1030 can be an integral partof the application server(s) 1117 performing function 1174, which can besubstantially similar to function 1162 and adapted to the operations ofthe IMS network 1150.

For illustration purposes only, the terms S-CSCF, P-CSCF, I-CSCF, and soon, can be server devices, but may be referred to in the subjectdisclosure without the word “server.” It is also understood that anyform of a CSCF server can operate in a device, system, component, orother form of centralized or distributed hardware and software. It isfurther noted that these terms and other terms such as DIAMETER commandsare terms can include features, methodologies, and/or fields that may bedescribed in whole or in part by standards bodies such as 3^(rd)Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is further noted that some orall embodiments of the subject disclosure may in whole or in partmodify, supplement, or otherwise supersede final or proposed standardspublished and promulgated by 3GPP.

FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a web portal 1202 of acommunication system 1200. Communication system 1200 can be overlaid oroperably coupled with the customer care service systems of FIGS. 1 and4-5, and/or the contact center of FIG. 2, e.g., according to thecommunication exchanges of FIG. 3, communication system 1000, and/orcommunication system 1100 as another representative embodiment of thecustomer care service systems of FIGS. 1 and 4-5, and/or the contactcenter of FIG. 2, communication system 1000, and/or communication system1100. The web portal 1202 can be used for managing services of thecustomer care service systems of FIGS. 1 and 4-5, and/or the contactcenter of FIG. 2 and communication systems 1000-1100. A web page of theweb portal 1202 can be accessed by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) withan Internet browser using an Internet-capable communication device suchas those described in the customer care service systems of FIGS. 1 and4-5, and/or the contact center of FIG. 2, e.g., according to thecommunication exchanges of FIG. 3 and the communication systems of FIGS.10-11. The web portal 1202 can be configured, for example, to access amedia processor 1006 and services managed thereby such as a DigitalVideo Recorder (DVR), a Video on Demand (VoD) catalog, an ElectronicProgramming Guide (EPG), or a personal catalog (such as personal videos,pictures, audio recordings, etc.) stored at the media processor 1006.The web portal 1202 can also be used for provisioning IMS servicesdescribed earlier, provisioning Internet services, provisioning cellularphone services, and so on.

The web portal 1202 can further be utilized to manage and provisionsoftware applications 1062-1068, and 1172-1174 to adapt theseapplications as may be desired by subscribers and/or service providersof the customer care service systems of FIGS. 1 and 4-5, and/or thecontact center of FIG. 2, e.g., according to the communication exchangesof FIG. 3, and/or the communication systems 1000-1100. For instance,users of one or more of the services provided by server 106, 302, 304,408, 502 and/or the customer care center server 1030 can log into theiron-line accounts and provision the servers 106, 128, 302, 304, 408, 502and/or server 1030 with customer information, customer service centerinformation, agent scripts and/or decision trees, equipment and/orservice information, revised and/or new solutions, and so on. Serviceproviders can log onto an administrator account to provision, monitorand/or maintain the customer care service systems of FIG. 1, FIGS. 4-5,and/or the contact center of FIG. 2, or the server 1030.

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication device1300. Communication device 1300 can serve in whole or in part as anillustrative embodiment of the devices depicted in the systems of FIGS.1-5, and FIGS. 10-11 and can be configured to perform portions of one ormore of the processes 600, 700, 800, 900 of FIGS. 6-9.

The communication device 1300 can comprise a wireline and/or wirelesstransceiver 1302 (herein transceiver 1302), a user interface (UI) 1304,a power supply 1314, a location receiver 1316, a motion sensor 1318, anorientation sensor 1320, and a controller 1306 for managing operationsthereof. The transceiver 1302 can support short-range or long-rangewireless access technologies such as Bluetooth®, ZigBee®, WiFi, DECT, orcellular communication technologies, just to mention a few (Bluetooth®and ZigBee® are trademarks registered by the Bluetooth® Special InterestGroup and the ZigBee® Alliance, respectively). Cellular technologies caninclude, for example, CDMA-1X, UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/GPRS, TDMA/EDGE, EV/DO,WiMAX, SDR, LTE, as well as other next generation wireless communicationtechnologies as they arise. The transceiver 1302 can also be adapted tosupport circuit-switched wireline access technologies (such as PSTN),packet-switched wireline access technologies (such as TCP/IP, VoIP,etc.), and combinations thereof.

The UI 1304 can include a depressible or touch-sensitive keypad 1308with a navigation mechanism such as a roller ball, a joystick, a mouse,or a navigation disk for manipulating operations of the communicationdevice 1300. The keypad 1308 can be an integral part of a housingassembly of the communication device 1300 or an independent deviceoperably coupled thereto by a tethered wireline interface (such as a USBcable) or a wireless interface supporting for example Bluetooth®. Thekeypad 1308 can represent a numeric keypad commonly used by phones,and/or a QWERTY keypad with alphanumeric keys. The UI 1304 can furtherinclude a display 1310 such as monochrome or color LCD (Liquid CrystalDisplay), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) or other suitable displaytechnology for conveying images to an end user of the communicationdevice 1300. In an embodiment where the display 1310 is touch-sensitive,a portion or all of the keypad 1308 can be presented by way of thedisplay 1310 with navigation features.

The display 1310 can use touch screen technology to also serve as a userinterface for detecting user input. As a touch screen display, thecommunication device 1300 can be adapted to present a user interfacewith graphical user interface (GUI) elements that can be selected by auser with a touch of a finger. The touch screen display 1310 can beequipped with capacitive, resistive or other forms of sensing technologyto detect how much surface area of a user's finger has been placed on aportion of the touch screen display. This sensing information can beused to control the manipulation of the GUI elements or other functionsof the user interface. The display 1310 can be an integral part of thehousing assembly of the communication device 1300 or an independentdevice communicatively coupled thereto by a tethered wireline interface(such as a cable) or a wireless interface.

The UI 1304 can also include an audio system 1312 that utilizes audiotechnology for conveying low volume audio (such as audio heard inproximity of a human ear) and high volume audio (such as speakerphonefor hands free operation). The audio system 1312 can further include amicrophone for receiving audible signals of an end user. The audiosystem 1312 can also be used for voice recognition applications. The UI1304 can further include an image sensor 1313 such as a charged coupleddevice (CCD) camera for capturing still or moving images.

The power supply 1314 can utilize common power management technologiessuch as replaceable and rechargeable batteries, supply regulationtechnologies, and/or charging system technologies for supplying energyto the components of the communication device 1300 to facilitatelong-range or short-range portable applications. Alternatively, or incombination, the charging system can utilize external power sources suchas DC power supplied over a physical interface such as a USB port orother suitable tethering technologies.

The location receiver 1316 can utilize location technology such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of assisted GPS foridentifying a location of the communication device 1300 based on signalsgenerated by a constellation of GPS satellites, which can be used forfacilitating location services such as navigation. The motion sensor1318 can utilize motion sensing technology such as an accelerometer, agyroscope, or other suitable motion sensing technology to detect motionof the communication device 1300 in three-dimensional space. Theorientation sensor 1320 can utilize orientation sensing technology suchas a magnetometer to detect the orientation of the communication device1300 (north, south, west, and east, as well as combined orientations indegrees, minutes, or other suitable orientation metrics).

The communication device 1300 can use the transceiver 1302 to alsodetermine a proximity to a cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth®, or other wirelessaccess points by sensing techniques such as utilizing a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) and/or signal time of arrival (TOA) or time offlight (TOF) measurements. The controller 1306 can utilize computingtechnologies such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP),programmable gate arrays, application specific integrated circuits,and/or a video processor with associated storage memory such as Flash,ROM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM or other storage technologies for executingcomputer instructions, controlling, and processing data supplied by theaforementioned components of the communication device 1300.

Other components not shown in FIG. 13 can be used in one or moreembodiments of the subject disclosure. For instance, the communicationdevice 1300 can include a reset button (not shown). The reset button canbe used to reset the controller 1306 of the communication device 1300.In yet another embodiment, the communication device 1300 can alsoinclude a factory default setting button positioned, for example, belowa small hole in a housing assembly of the communication device 1300 toforce the communication device 1300 to re-establish factory settings. Inthis embodiment, a user can use a protruding object such as a pen orpaper clip tip to reach into the hole and depress the default settingbutton. The communication device 1300 can also include a slot for addingor removing an identity module such as a Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card. SIM cards can be used for identifying subscriber services,executing programs, storing subscriber data, and so forth.

The communication device 1300 as described herein can operate with moreor less of the circuit components shown in FIG. 13. These variantembodiments can be used in one or more embodiments of the subjectdisclosure.

The communication device 1300 can be adapted to perform the functions ofone or more of the devices of FIGS. 1-5, the media processor 1006, themedia devices 1008, or the portable communication devices 1016 of FIG.10, as well as the IMS CDs 1101-1102 and PSTN and/or PLMN (public landmobile network) CDs 1103-1105 of FIG. 11. It will be appreciated thatthe communication device 1300 can also represent other devices that canoperate in one or more of the systems of FIGS. 1-5, communicationsystems 1000-1100 of FIGS. 10-11 such as a gaming console and a mediaplayer. In addition, the controller 1306 can be adapted in variousembodiments to perform the functions 1062-1066 and 1172-1174,respectively.

Advanced call center capabilities include, without limitation, one ormore of the following advantages:

-   -   Global calling, e.g., application of Internet routing to provide        seamless over-the-top communications;    -   Call queueing that applies logic, e.g., by way of apps and/or        expert systems, that can direct which agent receives which call;    -   Automation that allows virtually any application in any language        to contribute to the response, solution and/or decision process;    -   Simple agent desktops that can be introduced, updated or        otherwise modified rapidly, without requiring any specialized        equipment;    -   Automatic call distribution as a service, e.g., providing call        distribution “in the cloud”;    -   Screen sharing to allow an agent to see what a client, customer        or user is seeing, and vice versa;    -   Co-browsing to allow an agent to assist a user in filling forms,        and the like;    -   Session recording and/or archiving;    -   Identity-based call handling that allows different users to be        directed to different agents and/or call centers as seen fit;    -   Directed media that provides personalized announcements per        caller;    -   Messaging that allows agents to chat with users;    -   Document sharing that allows agents/users to review documents,        photos, videos, etc., while engaged in a session;    -   Voice search allowing agent and/or user utterances to be        converted to text, e.g., to a web search, while engaged in a        session;    -   Product recognition from an image, e.g., a photo of a product, a        front or back panel, a tag with the product make/model/serial        no., a maintenance reference no. and the like;    -   Voice/face identification;    -   Mood analysis;    -   Wireless connection to other devices, systems and/or        instruments, e.g., WiFi, personal area networks, Bluetooth and        the like;    -   Data rendering, e.g., providing real-time graphs and/or readouts        related to a service session;    -   Directory integration;    -   Presence;    -   Group calling;    -   File transfer; and    -   Webcasting.

Upon reviewing the aforementioned embodiments, it would be evident to anartisan with ordinary skill in the art that said embodiments can bemodified, reduced, or enhanced without departing from the scope of theclaims described below. For example, the customer care center conceptcan include processing of any collaborative general business activities,such as the processing of insurance claims.

For example, a policy holder opens a claim form via a hyperlink, an HTMLform provides step-by-step instructions. Data can be collected at thescene of an accident, e.g., using a mobile phone or tablet camera, voicerecorder and to generally document damage and/or surroundingcircumstances. With the touch of a button on the mobile device, aninsurance agent or specialist is brought online to advise the policyholder on proper procedures. The agent can see the scene and speak withthe policy holder, the other driver, witnesses, police, and so on. Theagent can add information to the claim form automatically. The agent canbring a claim adjuster online to assess the claim, and the adjuster candirect the policy holder to visualize areas of damage. The adjuster canrecord screen shots, video and/or audio to a database. Using the policyholder's GPS, a nearest tow operator can be located. In some instances,the tow operator can be associated with or otherwise bridged or joinedinto the conversation with the agent and the policy holder, allowing thepolicy holder to talk to the tow operator to receive time estimates,instructions and the like.

More generally, the customer service center techniques disclosed hereincan be applied to other situations in which a mobile or remoteindividual, e.g., a field worker, such as a construction worker or asocial worker, encounters an issue that requires application ofexpertise beyond that currently possessed by the field worker. Otherapplications can include human services, such as doctor-patient, or moregenerally, providing immediate and highly relevant medical or clinicalinformation to patients, paramedics, EMTs, police, fire to cope withmedical and/or emergency situations. It is envisioned that otherequipment, such as medical equipment, scientific instrumentation and thelike can be integrated to allow for an immediate and accurate transferof information in any circumstance.

Still other applications can include providing secure services foremergency communications during disasters, e.g., providing coordinationamong first responders and government agencies during an emergency. Thetechniques disclosed herein can apply to virtually any application thatwould benefit from multi-party, bidirectional, real-time audio, text,video and data streaming, secure or unsecure, with opportunities forrecording, data gathering capabilities and analysis capabilities toimprove resolution and/or responses to current and future situations.Other embodiments can be used in the subject disclosure.

It should be understood that devices described in the exemplaryembodiments can be in communication with each other via various wirelessand/or wired methodologies. The methodologies can be links that aredescribed as coupled, connected and so forth, which can includeunidirectional and/or bidirectional communication over wireless pathsand/or wired paths that utilize one or more of various protocols ormethodologies, where the coupling and/or connection can be direct (e.g.,no intervening processing device) and/or indirect (e.g., an intermediaryprocessing device such as a router).

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a machine inthe form of a computer system 1400 within which a set of instructions,when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethods described above. One or more instances of the machine canoperate, for example, as the customer care center server 1030, the mediaprocessor 1006, the expert system 106, the knowledge database 128,customer equipment 124, 308 agent equipment 122, 314, 322 the selectiveforwarding unit 302, the session controller, 304, the WebRTC platform408, 502 and/or and other devices of FIGS. 1-5 and 10-13. In someembodiments, the machine may be connected, e.g., using a network 1426,to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate inthe capacity of a server or a client user machine in a server-clientuser network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (ordistributed) network environment.

The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet, a smart phone, a laptop computer, adesktop computer, a control system, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions, sequential orotherwise, that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will beunderstood that a communication device of the subject disclosureincludes broadly any electronic device that provides voice, video ordata communication. Further, while a single machine is illustrated, theterm “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machinesthat individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) ofinstructions to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein.

The computer system 1400 may include a processor, or controller, 1402,e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU),or both, a main memory 1404 and a static memory 1406, which communicatewith each other via a bus 1408. The computer system 1400 may furtherinclude a display unit 1410, e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), aflat panel, or a solid state display. The computer system 1400 mayinclude an input device 1412, e.g., a keyboard, a cursor control device1414, e.g., a mouse, a disk drive unit 1416, a signal generation device1418, e.g., a speaker or remote control, and a network interface device1420. In distributed environments, the embodiments described in thesubject disclosure can be adapted to utilize multiple display units 1410controlled by two or more computer systems 1400. In this configuration,presentations described by the subject disclosure may in part be shownin a first of the display units 1410, while the remaining portion ispresented in a second of the display units 1410.

The disk drive unit 1416 may include a tangible computer-readablestorage medium 1422 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions,e.g., software 1424, embodying any one or more of the methods orfunctions described herein, including those methods illustrated above.The instructions 1424 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 1404, the static memory 1406, and/or within theprocessor 1402 during execution thereof by the computer system 1400. Themain memory 1404 and the processor 1402 also may constitute tangiblecomputer-readable storage media.

Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Application specific integrated circuits andprogrammable logic array can use downloadable instructions for executingstate machines and/or circuit configurations to implement embodiments ofthe subject disclosure. Applications that may include the apparatus andsystems of various embodiments broadly include a variety of electronicand computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions in two ormore specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with relatedcontrol and data signals communicated between and through the modules,or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Thus, theexample system is applicable to software, firmware, and hardwareimplementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the subject disclosure, theoperations or methods described herein are intended for operation assoftware programs or instructions running on or executed by a computerprocessor or other computing device, and which may include other formsof instructions manifested as a state machine implemented with logiccomponents in an application specific integrated circuit or fieldprogrammable gate array. Furthermore, software implementations (e.g.,software programs, instructions, etc.) including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the methods described herein. It is furthernoted that a computing device such as a processor, a controller, a statemachine or other suitable device for executing instructions to performoperations or methods may perform such operations directly or indirectlyby way of one or more intermediate devices directed by the computingdevice.

While the tangible computer-readable storage medium 1422 is shown in anexample embodiment to be a single medium, the term “tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a singlemedium or multiple media, e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers, that store the one or more sets ofinstructions. The term “tangible computer-readable storage medium” shallalso be taken to include any non-transitory medium that is capable ofstoring or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machineand that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methods ofthe subject disclosure. The term “non-transitory” as in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage includes without limitation memories, drives,devices and anything tangible but not a signal per se.

The term “tangible computer-readable storage medium” shall accordinglybe taken to include, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such asa memory card or other package that houses one or more read-only(non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or other re-writable(volatile) memories, a magneto-optical or optical medium such as a diskor tape, or other tangible media which can be used to store information.Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more ofa tangible computer-readable storage medium, as listed herein andincluding art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which thesoftware implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are from time-to-timesuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Wireless standards for device detection (e.g.,RFID), short-range communications (e.g., Bluetooth®, WiFi, Zigbee®), andlong-range communications, e.g., WiMAX, GSM, CDMA, LTE, LTE-A can beused by the computer system 1400. In one or more embodiments,information regarding use of services can be generated includingservices being accessed, media consumption history, user preferences,and so forth. This information can be obtained by various methodsincluding user input, detecting types of communications, e.g., videocontent vs. audio content, analysis of content streams, and so forth.The generating, obtaining and/or monitoring of this information can beresponsive to an authorization provided by the user.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Theexemplary embodiments can include combinations of features and/or stepsfrom multiple embodiments. Other embodiments may be utilized and derivedtherefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changesmay be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figuresare also merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certainproportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized.Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement which achieves thesame or similar purpose may be substituted for the embodiments describedor shown by the subject disclosure. The subject disclosure is intendedto cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, can be used in the subject disclosure.For instance, one or more features from one or more embodiments can becombined with one or more features of one or more other embodiments. Inone or more embodiments, features that are positively recited can alsobe negatively recited and excluded from the embodiment with or withoutreplacement by another structural and/or functional feature. The stepsor functions described with respect to the embodiments of the subjectdisclosure can be performed in any order. The steps or functionsdescribed with respect to the embodiments of the subject disclosure canbe performed alone or in combination with other steps or functions ofthe subject disclosure, as well as from other embodiments or from othersteps that have not been described in the subject disclosure. Further,more than or less than all of the features described with respect to anembodiment can also be utilized.

Less than all of the steps or functions described with respect to theexemplary processes or methods can also be performed in one or more ofthe exemplary embodiments. Further, the use of numerical terms todescribe a device, component, step or function, such as first, second,third, and so forth, is not intended to describe an order or functionunless expressly stated so. The use of the terms first, second, thirdand so forth, is generally to distinguish between devices, components,steps or functions unless expressly stated otherwise. Additionally, oneor more devices or components described with respect to the exemplaryembodiments can facilitate one or more functions, where the facilitating(e.g., facilitating access or facilitating establishing a connection)can include less than every step needed to perform the function or caninclude all of the steps needed to perform the function.

In one or more embodiments, a processor (which can include a controlleror circuit) has been described that performs various functions. Itshould be understood that the processor can be multiple processors,which can include distributed processors or parallel processors in asingle machine or multiple machines. The processor can be used insupporting a virtual processing environment. The virtual processingenvironment may support one or more virtual machines representingcomputers, servers, or other computing devices. In such virtualmachines, components such as microprocessors and storage devices may bevirtualized or logically represented. The processor can include a statemachine, application specific integrated circuit, and/or programmablegate array including a Field PGA. In one or more embodiments, when aprocessor executes instructions to perform “operations”, this caninclude the processor performing the operations directly and/orfacilitating, directing, or cooperating with another device or componentto perform the operations.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided with the understanding thatit will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of theclaims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can beseen that various features are grouped together in a single embodimentfor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method ofdisclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that theclaimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited ineach claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subjectmatter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment.Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimedsubject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: facilitating, by aprocessing system including a processor, a customer service session viaa communication network, wherein customer equipment participates in afirst interactive communication exchange with a first customer serviceagent via a network connection using a first interaction mode;monitoring, by the processing system, the first interactivecommunication exchange; associating, by the processing system based onthe monitoring, a second customer service agent with the customerservice session, wherein the second customer service agent provides aconsultation service to the first customer service agent in a secondinteractive communication exchange using a second interaction modedifferent from the first interaction mode, without exposing theconsultation service to the customer equipment, wherein the firstcustomer service agent provides, in accordance with the monitoring, anassessment of a customer mood to the second customer service agent; anddetermining, by the processing system based on the assessment, whetherto associate an additional customer service resource with the customerservice session.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first customerservice agent comprises an automated system and the second customerservice agent is a live agent.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising determining, by the processing system, an availability of thelive agent.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising modifying, bythe processing system, a queue for assignment of the live agent to thecustomer service session based on the assessment.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein responsive to an interruption of the network connection, thecustomer service session is maintained for a predetermined time period.6. The method of claim 5, wherein the customer is a subscriber to thecommunication network, and wherein the time period is in accordance witha subscription level of the customer.
 7. The method of claim 5, whereinthe time period is in accordance with an experience of the customer in aprevious customer service session.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst interaction mode and the second interaction mode each comprisevoice, video, instant messaging, short message service (SMS), multimediamessaging service (MMS), hypertext, file transfer, data exchange or anycombination thereof.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one ofthe first interactive communication exchange and the second interactivecommunication exchange comprises a peer-to-peer connection.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the processingsystem, a customer inquiry based on the monitoring.
 11. A devicecomprising: a processing system including a processor; and a memory thatstores executable instructions that, when executed by the processingsystem, facilitate performance of operations comprising: facilitating acustomer service session via a communication network, wherein customerequipment participates in a first interactive communication exchangewith a first customer service agent via a network connection using afirst interaction mode; monitoring the first interactive communicationexchange; determining a customer inquiry based on the monitoring;associating, based on the monitoring, a second customer service agentwith the customer service session, wherein the second customer serviceagent provides a consultation service to the first customer serviceagent in a second interactive communication exchange using a secondinteraction mode without exposing the consultation service to thecustomer equipment, wherein the first customer service agent provides anassessment of a customer mood to the second customer service agent; anddetermining, based on the assessment, whether to associate an additionalcustomer service resource with the customer service session.
 12. Thedevice of claim 11, wherein the second interaction mode is differentfrom the first interaction mode.
 13. The device of claim 11, wherein thefirst interaction mode and the second interaction mode each comprisevoice, video, instant messaging, short message service (SMS), multimediamessaging service (MMS), hypertext, file transfer, data exchange or anycombination thereof.
 14. The device of claim 11, wherein the firstcustomer service agent comprises an automated system and the secondcustomer service agent is a live agent, and wherein the operationsfurther comprise determining an availability of the live agent.
 15. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise modifying aqueue for assignment of the live agent to the customer service sessionbased on the assessment.
 16. A machine-readable medium comprisingexecutable instructions that, when executed by a processing systemincluding a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:facilitating a customer service session via a communication network,wherein customer equipment participates in a first interactivecommunication exchange with a first customer service agent via a networkconnection using a first interaction mode; monitoring the firstinteractive communication exchange; associating, based on themonitoring, a second customer service agent with the customer servicesession, wherein the second customer service agent provides aconsultation service to the first customer service agent in a secondinteractive communication exchange using a second interaction modewithout exposing the consultation service to the customer equipment,wherein the first customer service agent provides an assessment of acustomer mood to the second customer service agent; and determining,based on the assessment, whether to associate an additional customerservice resource with the customer service session.
 17. Themachine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the second interaction modeis different from the first interaction mode, and wherein the operationsfurther comprise determining a customer inquiry based on the monitoring.18. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the firstinteraction mode and the second interaction mode each comprise voice,video, instant messaging, short message service (SMS), multimediamessaging service (MMS), hypertext, file transfer, data exchange or anycombination thereof.
 19. The machine-readable medium of claim 16,wherein the first customer service agent comprises an automated systemand the second customer service agent is a live agent.
 20. Themachine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the operations furthercomprise modifying a queue for assignment of the live agent to thecustomer service session based on the assessment.